17 Basic Purees

After several months of feeding my first baby, I feel like I've got a pretty good list of basic purees that helped introduce different foods and flavors.  In a desperate attempt to not get bored - because let's face it, there are a lot of meals when you have to feed this little person something but I certainly don't have the brainpower, time, or ingredients to do something fancy - I've created a go-to list of purees that are simple.  These basics will most likely be the keystones for many more meals.  Just appropriate prep the food by peeling (if necessary) and cutting into chunks.  Steam, puree by adding enough reserved cooking liquid as needed, and you're ready to go:

Even More Root Vegetables

Since it is winter and root vegetables are everywhere these days, and squash and carrots are getting a little boring, we're branching out and trying new root vegetables.  So far, we've tried turnips and celery root.  Both have gone well.  We've put a little potato with dark leafy green purees to give them more oomph, and sweet potatoes are popular.  Our newest additions to the root vegetable group are sunchokes and parsnips.

Sunchokes are overlooked and delicious.  The hardest part of cooking with a sun choke is peeling it if it has lots of little nubs and crevices.  I try to find the straightest and smoothest sunchokes, but realistically you should factor in a little bit of time to peel them well.  With the peel, they look similar to a ginger root, and without the peel, they look similar to a potato.  I've heard they are really high in iron and are good prebiotics for digestive health, so they seem like a good thing to give a baby.  (I've also heard that they cause farts, but so far that hasn't been our experience.)  

Along with our sunchokes, I added some turnip and our old standby - leek.  

Sunchoke, Turnip, & Leek Puree

• Peel sunchoke and turnip
• Chop into small chunks
• Wash leek and slice white end
• Add sunchoke and turnip chunks & leeks to a steamer basket
• Steam for 15 minutes
• Blend with a small amount of cooking liquid for desired consistency

I scooped out several portions of this dish and set them aside for Robert.  Then I made a mistake.  I didn't taste it before altering for a more adult version.  If I had tasted it, I would have declared it practically done - just in need of a small amount of salt and pepper.  Unfortunately, I plowed ahead without thinking and added a generous block of butter (and salt and pepper.)  

Whoops.  Later, while feeding this to Robert, I had a bite of his, and it was delicious.  The adult version was overrun with butter.  It wasn't bad, it just didn't let the flavors of the veggies through.  

Our next root vegetable was the misunderstood parsnip.  I thought this would be a good addition because they can be even sweeter than carrots and are easy to prepare.  

Parsnip and Carrot Puree

• Peel parsnip and carrots
• Chop into small chunks
• Steam for 15 minutes
• Blend with a generous amount of cooking liquid to get a good mush

I used substantially more parsnip than carrot, and Robert loved this!  Since he's familiar with orange colored foods - and likes them a lot - he took the first bite willingly and cleaned his bowl.

It's Christmas Time

Even though Robert is completely un-indoctrinated into the spirit of Christmas, I’m still trying to be festive.  There are so many tasty red and green foods to try, especially as he starts eating more substantial meals.  My first foray into Christmas cooking was by accident.  I wanted to try the Red Lettuce Mix from the Beaba Babycook Book because I received a gorgeous head of lettuce in my bi-weekly bushel from Farmhouse Delivery and because this was listed as a good early food.  As it turned out, I also had a scarlet turnip in that bushel, though I thought it was a less exciting, normal turnip.  I augmented my bushel with chervil (found with the fresh herbs) a small fingerling potato, and a sole filet, which conveniently was part of our regular dinner the night before. 

First. the Red Lettuce Mix:      

• Tender inner leaves from a head of red lettuce (or green – I’m under the impression it doesn’t really matter.)
• A small potato, chopped roughly
• A sprig of chervil
•  Breast milk

I put the lettuce and potato into the Babycook, steamed at level 3.  Then I discarded the cooking liquid and added the chervil and a bit of breast milk until it was a very smooth blend.  According to the cookbook, the baby should be able to suck this out of a bottle.  We tried, but without success.  It was quite popular when I fed him with a spoon.  This was also well received the next day after being heated slightly.  (Disclaimer - I tried this, and I thought it was disgusting.)

The turnip was a surprise.  I peeled it, then cut it in half to find its deep red insides.  It almost reminded me of a watermelon with a green/white outside and red surprise underneath.  I just roughly chopped it, threw it into the steaming basket at level 3, and blended well afterwards.  This was so good that I cooked another one in the Babycook for me for dinner.  

I've read mixed information on when to introduce turnips.  The Babycook Book says to wait much later - around 18 months, but I've also read that some kids love the taste early.  I think I got one of those kids.  

Our protein was a simple pan-cooked piece of sole.  The night before I made rolled sole for us, but saved a plain fillet for Robert.  After sautéing mushrooms, greens, and garlic in a pan, I used the pan for the fish for just a little extra flavor because sole is just bland without any outside help.  This was our first fish, and Robert’s eyes lit up when he tried it!  I put a piece of fish in the blender just to break it down a bit, but I didn’t puree it.  Definite winner.

 

The leftovers were just as festive and delicious as the actual meal.  We had this for lunch the next day: